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Move over!

Enforcement on the rise for overlooked traffic law

By LEE WILLIAMS
lwilliams@TheCitizenNews.com

Move over, slow down and be prepared to pump your brakes when approaching an emergency vehicle stopped on the side of the highway or be ready to pay a whopping $500 fine.

That’s the message law enforcement officials are trying to send to motorists all across Georgia.

On July 1, the new statute dubbed the Move-Over law took effect, but few people know about the law. So Lt. Col. Wayne Hannah of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Department’s Traffic Enforcement Division has been working with other law enforcement officials in Georgia to spread the word.

According to FBI statistics, traffic crashes claim the lives of more police personnel than any other cause of death in the line of duty, including shootings.

In 2003, 49 officers died in crashes across the country, 13 of whom where struck and killed by passing vehicles as they worked outside their patrol cars.

Hannah, who also has been struck by a passing motorist while assisting with a traffic crash several years ago, said the Move-Over law is necessary. The law will give law enforcement officers an extra buffer of safety, which will ultimately help save lives, he said.

Capt. Bryan Woodie agrees.

Woodie was struck and injured twice by passing motorists while investigating traffic accidents. He, too, knows the Move-Over law can help prevent accidents, injuries and save lives.

“I was walking back to my car on a two-lane highway and something hit me from behind and I ended up in the emergency room at Southern Regional (Medical Center),” said Woodie of the 1988 incident.

Woodie was investigating a deer accident when he was struck. To this day, the hit-and-run driver remains at large.

Another time, Woodie was struck by a 16-year-old girl. The incident left him with back trouble for years.

“The (16-year-old) drove on home and I had to get her tag number and we caught her a little while later,” Woodie said.

Woodie is still stunned by what the teen said when the deputies questioned her about the incident.

“She knew she hit me,” Woodie said. “She said she didn’t know she had to stop.”

The teen had been convicted of a similar offense for leaving the scene of an accident and failure to obey an officer directing traffic.

These stories are testaments to the hazards law enforcement officers face when responding to a traffic crash or making a traffic stop. That’s why Woodie and Hannah support the new law.

Hannah said the Move-Over law differs from another law that requires drivers to yield to the right when an emergency vehicle approaches.

Hannah said his goal is to educate the community before it’s too late.

Move-Over law enforcement campaigns could be forthcoming in the county.

“I’m sure we will,” said Hannah when asked if a crackdown effort will be held soon. “We will give people a chance to familiarize themselves with the new law, and if it’s a problem, we will look at it.”